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Mary Hannigan: Looking back to bygone eras and ahead to new horizons

Dave Hannigan on the death of Sports Illustrated; Ciaran Murphy on the spark in Gaelic football; Johnny Watterson on the hope in Felix Jones

Dave Hannigan writes how Sports Illustrated now feels like “a relic from a bygone era rendered utterly obsolete by technology”. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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Mary Hannigan
Thu Jan 25 2024 - 11:53

Dave Hannigan recalls suggesting to his students a decade ago that one way of improving their writing was to read more. So he recommended they buy some magazines. “They stared back at me. Genuinely perplexed.... I might as well have asked them to take notes with ink and quill rather than MacBook.” He was reminded of that response this week when he heard that Sports Illustrated had laid off most of its staff, like most magazines the one time sporting bible now “a relic from a bygone era rendered utterly obsolete by technology”. For his students, magazines are “about as relevant to their lives as watching Pathe newsreel footage before a movie in the cinema was to ours”.

Ciarán Murphy notes that there are those who often forecast that Gaelic football will go the way of Sports Illustrated, that it’s a bit of a relic itself, but he loves the bones of the game, and with the League starting at the weekend, he’s getting ready to be frustrated and excited in equal measure. “Roll on 2024,” he declares.

Given the links to the Championship, there is a significant amount at stake for all 32 teams across the four divisions. Division Two, with its “cavalcade of high-profile managers”, will get more attention than ever, Malachy Clerkin running the rule over the runners and riders in the race for promotion.

In rugby, Johnny Watterson looks at the impact former Irish international Felix Jones might have with England having been appointed an assistant to Steve Borthwick, two coaching World Cup medals with South Africa making his CV an impressive one. And he’s left quite an impression on Borthwick so far. “Meeting with him, having a conversation with him for an hour, and not getting a word in because he has so much rugby knowledge, it is unreal,” he said. “And [he has] a work ethic that is astounding.”

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You need a fair old work ethic to run 26 and a bit miles, but Dubliner Siobhán O’Donnell won’t be doing it in New York next November after she and her husband Tony added up the cost of the race entry, flights and accommodation: the entire package for the two of them came to just under €6k. And that’s “before you put your hand in your pocket for a cup of tea,” she tells Ian O’Riordan. “That just looked bonkers money to me. The New York Marathon has always been number one on the bucket-list. But not at that price.” Like the rest of us, then, she’ll be watching it on telly.

TV Watch: Ireland are back in action at the men’s Under-19 cricket World Cup this morning, India their opponents (Sky Sports Mix), while it’s semi-finals day in the women’s singles at the Australian tennis Open (Eurosport, up to 1.0pm). RTÉ 2 has racing from Gowran Park this afternoon (1.30-4.0) and later Leona Maguire is in the field for the LPGA Drive On Championship (Sky Sports Golf, 5.0-8.0), which she won in 2022.